Master Detective Archives: Review of Rain Code - insatiably curious
Our Verdict
Master Detective Archives: Rain Code is a mysteriful masterpiece boasting an immersive world, quirky characters, unique gameplay, and a heap of captivating cases to crack. Engaging from start to finish, it’s clear that your adventure with Shinigami and Yuma is a cult classic in the making.
One of the games I'm most looking forward to this year is Master Detective Archives: Rain Code. Danganronpa meets Persona 5—The Somnium Files, with a touch of AI, perhaps? How could I refuse? To be honest, this game fell very short of my expectations. It blasted me away and boom-killed 'em entirely. And I'll do my hardest to explain why in my Master Detective Archives: Rain Code review, trying to keep spoilers to a minimum because, really? Master, I'd much prefer leave such puzzles to you to solve.
I'll begin by describing the situation. You play Yuma Kokohead, a trainee detective for the fabled World Detective Organization (WDO), an amnesiac (look, I know, I know, if I had a dollar for every time I wrote that, I'd be living in a Kanai Tower penthouse by now, but hear me out, it really works here).
It turns out that Yuma Kokohead struck a deal with the death deity Shinigami, which is why he has an empty coconut head. In return for his memories, Shinigami has become an inseparable part of his life, supporting him in his efforts to unravel mysteries and elevate to the rank of expert detective.
You accompany Yuma and Shinigami as they go to Kanai Ward, a neon-lit metropolis hidden behind a never-ending mist of rain, oppressed by the corrupt Amaterasu Peace Corporation and full of unanswered secrets. There, you join forces with a group of fully trained master detectives, each with specific abilities such as mind-reading or clairvoyance, known as "forensic fortes," and you take on a number of cases while posing a threat to the Peacekeepers in the hopes of discovering "Kanai Ward's Ultimate Secret."
There are primarily two sections to the gameplay. In the first, you traverse the gorgeous but wet Kanai Ward in search of cases, speaking with witnesses, looking at crime sites, and obtaining information. As the tale progresses, Kanai Ward is divided into many districts, each of which has its own set of mysteries to discover and individuals to meet.
Each of the many districts has its own instance, and you can take a bus or walk between them. The Kanai Ward buses may be thought of as a quick transit system in which you can either approach a bus stop and choose your destination, or you can teleport to a spot on your map. Although the map isn't very large, many of the districts are made up of many floors and twisting routes, so having the ability to go quickly is very welcomed. I also like how the bus service and bus stations are used to accomplish this.
Apart from the primary narrative tasks, there are side missions available in and around Kanai Ward. Many of them are rather simple, like chatting to a few NPCs to get information or provide help, but they greatly enhance the worldbuilding of the game and your comprehension of the folks you must defend. There are also some very engaging short tales to discover, and since they are so simple to finish, I strongly advise starting them as soon as they show up on your map and working on them in a passive manner as you go.
The Mystery Labyrinths are the setting for the second part of the game. Like the palaces in the Persona games series, Mystery Labyrinths are representations of actual mysteries, with the solution buried deep inside. Resolving the enigma that presents a labyrinth is the only means of advancing through it. Should you fail to solve the puzzle, the Mystery Labyrinth will keep growing and changing until it eventually infiltrates the outside world.
Yuma may explore and discover the mysteries of a Mystery Labyrinth by using shinigami to open a passage across it. Using the "solution keys," which are basically clues that you and Shinigami find while looking into the case in the real world, you must conquer several challenges within. Each labyrinth has a distinct layout and atmosphere that are influenced by the mystery surrounding it, and they provide a wide variety of gaming techniques.
The labyrinths depend on you using your own investigative abilities to advance and find further mysteries. Reconstructing a crime scene, tracking a perpetrator's activities, or selecting the door marked with the correct response to a question are just a few examples of the gaming aspects that are always changing to keep things interesting. Not to mention the Shinigami Puzzle parts, where you have to throw knives into a rotating barrel that contains a Shinigami dressed in a bikini to spell out a word that is missing. Even though it's so strange and fanservice-like, I like it.
Yuma also has a stamina meter, which functions similarly to HP. Every time you make a mistake in movement, you lose some stamina. This heightens the sensation of danger inside the labyrinths and increases your satisfaction when you solve a clue on your first try. Don't worry, however; the pause menu includes a dictionary of useful words, gaming lessons, profiles for all the people you're interested in, a comprehensive list of all your solution keys, and more in case you ever find it difficult to recall any important information.
Naturally, navigating the labyrinths is more complicated than just picking the correct doorway or looking through your solution keys until you figure out whodunit. You also have to contend with a number of bothersome Mystery Phantoms, whose main objective is to confuse you and prevent you from finishing the case.
Fighting these phantoms is not like fighting regular combat, however; it's neither a turn-based battle as in Persona nor an action-style pow-wow where you strike enemies with your key like in the Kingdom Hearts games. No, you have to use the mystical Solution Blade that you extract from Shinigami's neck when you enter the labyrinth and battle with knowledge and reason instead. Yes, that's right. It can't be much more bizarre than those enormous keys, I suppose.
Reasoning Deathmatches are the kind of combat where you battle the Mystery Phantoms, who throw accusations, deceptive assertions, and blatant falsehoods at you. Reasoning Deathmatches come in two varieties: the first requires you to refute incorrect assertions, while the second requires you to cut through false claims with the right answer.
In the latter case, you may pick from a variety of solution keys. To harm the Mystery Phantom, choose the appropriate one, equip it with your sword, and then cut through the appropriate statement. If you cut the incorrect sentence or use the incorrect answer key, you lose energy. Get some motivation from Shinigami, the love of my life, and try again.
You have to evade all the other claims the Mystery Phantoms hurl at you by hopping left and right, ducking, or leaping with the joystick in addition to selecting the correct answer keys with the Y button and slashing or refuting the correct assertions with the X button. Naturally, being struck also injures you and reduces your final labyrinth performance score.
The cacophony that the phantoms make to divert your attention tops it all off. The A button may be used to cut through noise, which shows in a pink font. However, I found that it often takes many presses to really remove noise since Yuma's slashes can be difficult to locate, particularly while you're avoiding other obstacles.
I like how Master Detective Archives: Rain Code approaches battle in a novel way. Though a little more sophisticated and refined, it bears some resemblance to the class trial arguments in the Danganronpa games. Though they are usually somewhat brief, I do appreciate the Reasoning Deathmatches, and taking a moment to go over your solution keys and choose the best one for a fight gives you some breathing area.
It does, however, take some getting used to, and at first I thought there was too much going on with too many moving pieces and things to pay attention to. Over my playing, I've become more acclimated to the mechanics, but sometimes I still make mistakes like pressing the incorrect button when things are too hectic or misjudging the distance between Yuma and a phrase I need to avoid. However, I did start my save file on a harder level, so it could be a little more forgiving on lesser difficulty settings.
You may get DP (detective points) by interacting with items, doing missions, conversing with NPCs, and other activities as you explore Kanai Ward. In this game, DP works similarly to EXP, and if you've accumulated enough to raise your Detective Rank, you may equip and unlock skills on a skill tree.
These skills branch into five different routes, each of which offers helpful advantages to aid you in the Mystery Labyrinths. These bonuses include improved movement speed and endurance, a reduced number of solution keys to pick from in Reasoning Deathmatches, and more. When you compare the skill tree to the expansive possibilities seen in heavy role-playing games, it's very simple, but it still offers a wonderful feeling of growth and challenges you to truly bring out your inner investigator as you investigate everything you come across.
Let's now discuss the characters. Master Detective Archives: Rain Codes' characters are fantastic, although to be honest, I wouldn't have expected any less after getting to know every Danganronpa character. Every time a new one appears, I can't wait to find out more about it; the designs are just amazing, from the other expert investigators to the menacing Peacekeepers.
Yuma is a cute little kid who is a very lovable protagonist to ride beside despite his softness and severe lack of confidence. He also has a strong sense of justice and altruism. Furthermore, he is the ideal antithesis of the outrageous death deity to whom he is bound.
Regarding Shinigami, I must admit that I'm completely smitten with her. She's an incredible diamond, and I'm not sure whether I want to marry her or become her. She is a complete joy to be around because of her upbeat, talkative personality, dubious morals, and off-color sense of humor. I can't get enough of this murderous, tone-deaf, possessive little monster.
Not alone, but certainly contributing to the illumination of Kanai Ward's gloomy streets is Shinigami. A wickedly dark sense of humor permeates the game, perfectly counterbalancing the grim issues it tackles with a plethora of tongue-in-cheek jibes, subtle pop culture jabs, and innuendos. Even though you're solving murder-suicide cases, looking into corpses, and learning about profound social injustices and political corruption, it's difficult to keep a straight face when you have the sometimes-lewd, always-chaotic death god Shinigami on your side.
To further enhance the experience, this game has excellent voice acting. The VAs are a wonderful fit for their roles; they provide everyone they come into contact with a genuine feeling of vitality and vigor. Anjali Kunapaneni, the voice of Dori from Genshin Impact, was cast as Shinigami, which shocked me at first, but it didn't take long for me to understand that no one else could have played the part more perfectly. The same is true of any of the main characters; I like them all, from Lucien Dodge's superb portrayal of Yuma, who speaks softly, to Aleks Le's portrayal of Vivia, who is always drowsy.
The remaining sound design is also excellent. The OST is fantastic, with plenty of jazzy songs that seem like they belong in Persona 5, and the sound effects are very well-placed and give your actions a true feeling of weight. The soundtrack perfectly captures the atmosphere of each scenario, whether you're looking over evidence or uncovering a corpse, whether it's a lighthearted song or some intense chords.
Master Detective Archives: Rain Code's style is still striking even when looking beyond the characters. Kanai Ward is exquisitely created, with each region retaining its own mood and individuality while also blending in with the rest of the map. The citizens of Kanai Ward live in a harsh environment, which is well reflected in the streets' gloomy, somber, and always wet appearance. The world is incredibly rich, with future technology and antique buildings coexisting.
When it comes to their gaudy exteriors, lengthy, winding hallways that change and twist right before your eyes, and surreal portals that lead even further within, the Mystery Labyrinths never cease to astound. Next are the Mystery Phantoms, who are individually twisted representations of real-life characters. Every time I come across a new one, I can't help but stare at them in amazement since they are so big and scary and have such eye-catching clothes that appear to blend glam-rock and cyberpunk aesthetics.
This game runs quite well on the Switch in terms of performance. On my Switch OLED, load screens load quite quickly, surroundings look fantastic in both handheld and docked mode, there is little to no stuttering or framerate reductions, and there is very little popping, clipping, or artifacting in the graphics. Though clearly not as good as other current-gen console and PC games, the stylized graphics and independently instanced districts seem to lessen the strain on the Switch's aging hardware, and as a result, things look pretty great. Enough so that I stop and say, "Wow, this looks pretty," and take screenshots on a regular basis.
The only performance problem I've seen is that the character models were oddly hazy during a few early game periods when the resolution appeared to become a little squiffy. I can't help but believe there may be a problem with the Switch rendering the sceneries since restarting the game didn't solve the problem. It didn't, however, really affect how much I enjoyed the game, and eventually it went away on its own.
I guess you get the picture now that I've gone on for too long. I can confidently state that Master Detective Archives: Rain Code is a master(detective)piece after investing more than 30 hours of work. This is one of my favorite games ever, and it's currently tied for GotY with Resident Evil 4 Remake.
While it may have some similarities to some amazing games that have come before it, its ambitious and distinctive gameplay and story make it stand out on its own as not just a great detective game, but one of the best Switch games I've played. Its striking design, immersive world, quirky characters, and clever cases add up to make something truly special. I'm excited to see what further secrets are in store since it's already shaping up to be an incredible, mysterious cult classic.